Oscar Pistorius to be on parole from August say family

OSCAR Pistorius will be freed from prison on parole by the end of August, his family have said, after a recommendation from the authorities that he serve the minimum jail time after killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

A court in South Africa confirmed on Monday that the former Olympic and Paralympic athlete will again face a possible murder conviction in November, when prosecutors appeal the original decision from his prolonged trial last year.

But by then Pistorius will have been out of jail and instead under house arrest for three months, the South African correctional services department has said.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency, an unnamed member of the Pistorius family said they had been told he would be granted "correctional supervision" once he had served a sixth of his jail term on 21 August.

"Oscar will be released on parole by the end of August," the family member said.

Pistorius was given a five-year sentence for the 2013 killing after he shot Ms Steenkamp multiple times through the closed door of the toilet in his house in Pretoria.

In December, trial judge Thokozile Masipa granted prosecutors permission to appeal her decision that Pistorius was not guilty of murder.

The new hearing will be heard at the Supreme Court of Appeal, where if the decision is overturned Pistorius will again face the possibility of a minimum 15-year jail sentence.